Although COVID-19 deaths continue to rise in Kern County, data shows they have decreased recently, according to the Kern County Public Health COVID-19 Dashboard.
As of Tuesday, Kern County Public Health reported four new COVID-19 deaths, bringing the total to 420. This month, since Sept. 27, 2020, Kern County Public Health reported 17 COVID-19 deaths – a 73 percent decrease in deaths from the month prior. From Aug. 27 to Sept. 27, Kern Public Health reported 63 COVID-19 deaths for the month.
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The decrease in deaths per month from October and September are drastically lower than the summer months.
Local health officials reported 150 COVID-19 deaths from July 27 to Aug. 27 and 106 COVID-19 deaths from June 27 to July 27.
Based on Kern Public Health’s most recent death data, which was updated on Oct. 1, nearly 70 percent of Kern’s COVID-19 deaths have been identified as Hispanic, while 28 percent has been identified as white. The majority of the deaths are people who were 65 or older in age, and the most common underlying medical conditions are Hypertension, Diabetes, and Cardiovascular Diseases.
The Kern Public Health COVID-19 dashboard also shows a decrease in daily case count from the summer months. The highest daily case count from this month was 91 new COVID-19 cases confirmed on Oct. 13, and September’s highest daily case count was 144 on Sept. 8.
During the summer month, Kern was experiencing much higher daily case counts. On Aug. 4 alone, public health official announced 427 cases. Kern’s highest daily case count was on July 7, with a daily case count of 798 cases.
Predominately Hispanic or Latino communities are still being hit the hardest in Kern County. Lamont, McFarland, Shafter, Arvin, Wasco and Buttonwillow have the highest case rates. Nearly 6.4 percent of Shafter, 6.2 percent of McFarland, and 6 percent of Lamont populations have contracted COVID-19.
The State announced Tuesday Kern County remains in the red tier for the third consecutive week. The Kern County Public Health Department confirmed 99 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total to 34,027 cases.
